Sweet Lucy Blue Eyes
by Rebecca2
Summary: (formerly called Blink and You're Gone) Kid Blink and Mush both become acquainted with the same girl, making the strike much more interesting for both of them than it seems in the movie... NOTE: THIS STORY HAS BEEN COMPLETELY REVISED WHILE FF.NET HAS BEEN
1. Uptown Girl

NOTE: I have given_ Blink and You're Gone_ a complete makeover! Every chapter, and even the title (obviously) has been changed in some way or another due to an entirely different direction I have chosen to take the story and a book I recently bought while browsing the children's section of Barnes & Noble (gimme a break, I was babysitting!) called _...If You Lived 100 Years Ago. _Needless to say, my newfound knowledge of life in New York in 1899 has caused me to revise much of this story. I'm sorry if having to read through the entire story all over again is a big pain to you, but I just couldn't sit by and allow the artistic vibes be denied. So there it is.  
  
  
Another note: I just want to say, that despite her many similarities to the dreaded Mary Sue, Lucy is NOT a Mary Sue. I am not Lucy. I do not want to be Lucy. Lucy sometimes wishes she were me, but this is MY story about Lucy. If she wants to write one about me, that's her prerogative. Of course, that would make ME Mary Sue...  
  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters (except Lucy), though sometimes I lie awake at night and dream that I did. Disney owns them, and I do hope that they are taking good care of my darling boys.  
  
  
Sheesh, why don't you give us the story already??  
  
Okay then, here it is.....  
  
  
**Chapter One: Uptown Girl**  
  
It was a hot day. Damned hot. Far too hot to be roaming the streets hawking papers to a sweaty, irritable New York City. Kid Blink was so exhausted from the effort of calling out headlines that he couldn't even invent any clever ones of his own. It was nearly 4 o'clock and he had only a few papes left, but he had barely made a profit for the last three days and he needed to sell everything he had today so that he'd be able to afford dinner.  
  
He decided to follow a light breeze that had started to blow just when he thought that he wouldn't be able to take a step further. It led him out of the sketchier part of town and into a quiet, swank residential neighborhood with tree-lined streets and fancy carriages in front of many of the mansions. Blink rarely ventured into neighborhoods like these, as there weren't usually many people out and he preferred to stick to the noisier, more crowded streets. But the breeze cooling his soaking wet brow felt so good that he continued on down the street, wiping perspiration from his forehead and fanning his face with his newspapers. Soon he began to daydream about what it would be like to live in one of these houses. With a motorized ceiling fan in each room, a steaming hot bath awaiting him each morning, servants who bowed politely when he entered the room and brought him whatever he wanted, electricity... Kid was so caught up with his fantasy that he nearly stumbled over his own feet when voice came out of no where and jerked him back in reality.  
  
"Are you selling those papers or just using them to fan yourself?" half-joked a soft feminine voice. Blink spun around in his tracks and saw, to his surprise, a girl about his age, carrying a parasol and wearing a blue dress that looked like it must have cost more money than every boy in the Lodge had ever held put together. Blink goggled at her, unable to speak until she had repeated the question.  
  
"Oh, I'm, uh, sellin' 'em," he said stupidly, feeling as though he could kick himself for saying something so obvious and inept.  
  
"Well then, I'd like to buy one," the girl replied, and she produced from her coin purse a shining new nickel. "I'm rather hot myself and I could use something to cool myself down with."  
  
Kid Blink handed her the paper wordlessly and took the nickel. But before he could begin to search through his pocket for four pennies for change, the girl said, "Don't worry about the change, I'd probably just lose the pennies anyway. Good afternoon, then!" she called as a man with a slickly waxed moustache Kid hadn't noticed put his arm firmly around the girl's waist and, shooting the newsie a stern glare, led her up some stairs away from a carriage that Kid supposed had just appeared out of thin air (he hadn't noticed it either) and into grand white mansion with a bright blue door.  
  
For a moment Kid stood rooted to the sidewalk, holding the nickel in his hands. He couldn't believe he had behaved so stupidly in front of a rich girl like that. He had been so startled that he barely even remembered from the girl had looked like! Reddish hair, fair skin, he tried to reconstruct her face in his mind, but soon he was distracted by the glint of the shining coin that still lay in his outstretched hand. She had paid him five times the amount of the paper! It looked like he'd be having a fine dinner that night, assuming he could get rid of his last couple of papers. Forgetting the heat and his exhaustion, Kid Blink leaped in the air with a hoot of joy and made his way back to the heart of Manhattan, his heart considerably lighter than it had been five minutes earlier.  
  
*******************************************  
  
Lucy Morningside sat thoughtfully on a doily covered sofa in the richly furnished drawing room of her family's uptown home, slowly sipping a frosty glass of lemonade and flipping distractedly through the newspaper she had just purchased. She let a soft chuckle escape her lips as she tossed the paper she had just bought onto the pile of newspapers she had accumulated throughout the day--New York Sun, The World, The Times, she hardly even knew which papers she had bought. Lucy never could pass by a newsboy, or any other poor child for that matter, without buying something for them or giving them at least a few pennies to get through the day. Her father had long since stopped trying to convince her that her sentimenality would get her into trouble and that "spoiling the newsies that way would only make them lazy," because Lucy paid no attention. Besides, Lucy thought naughtily, the newsie outside her house had been awfully cute, even if he was wearing an eyepatch.  
  
"MISS LUCY!" called a voice suddenly from the hall, and Lucy groaned and rolled over face first onto the sofa.  
  
"In here," came back her muffled voice. A moment later, a portly woman carrying a tea tray bustled into the drawing room wearing a look of weariness and frustration on her kindly but stern face. Upon seeing Lucy sprawled on the couch next to a tower of newspapers, the woman let out a long-practiced sigh.  
  
"Lucy Morningside," she said, "when are you ever going to tire of flirting with those newspaper boys? It's terribly bad taste for a lady of your upbringing."  
  
"Oh Cordelia!" muttered Lucy into the cushion. "What are you talking about, flirting? I just hate to see all those poor boys trying to earn enough money to eat! And especially in this heat. I can't imagine that they get enough to drink," she added softly, looking guiltily at the pitcher of lemonade.  
  
"I'm sure they visit enough taverns to drink enough for all New York," Cordelia   
muttered under her breath. "But honestly, Lucy," said the middle-aged housekeeper, "you must have bought..." she flipped through the newspapers, "nearly fifteen today!"  
  
"I ran into a lot of newsies today," Lucy shrugged. "Papa got annoyed, of course, but he was distracted and didn't say anything. The election has him pretty preoccupied."  
  
Cordelia snorted. "You think I don't know that? If it isn't one thing it's another! Planning dinner parties, cleaning guest rooms..."  
  
Lucy sat up so suddenly that she nearly knocked over the lemonade. "Dinner parties?" she whispered. "Cordelia is there a dinner party tonight?"  
  
The housekeeper gave Lucy a stern look. "Of course there is! You've known about it for weeks! Don't tell me you've forgotten that your father is entertaining the mayor of New York City tonight along with Councilmen Rogers, Thompson, Sullivan..."  
  
"I completely forgot!" cried Lucy. "And I told Robert Horner that I go for a carriage ride in the park with him this evening!"  
  
Cordelia clucked her tongue disapprovingly as she began pile dishes and teacups onto her tray. "Does your father know of your late night rendezvous' with your male friends?"  
  
Now it was Lucy's turn to snort. "Like he would care even if he weren't too busy to notice! Besides, Robbie Horner is a perfectly respectable, gentlemanly..."  
  
"...bore!" finished Cordelia huffily. Lucy giggled.  
  
"Well yes," she agreed lightly, "but he does like me so much, and he's perfectly amiable. It's not like I'm going to marry him."  
  
"Well, I should certainly hope not!" Cordelia cried, straightening the cushions on the the other sofa. "The boy has about as much as excitement as a jar of sauerkraut! And his parents!" Lucy giggled again and the housekeeper shuddered.  
  
"I should at least tell Robbie that I can't meet him this evening," she said thoughtfully. "Do you think Father would let me take out the carriage?"  
  
"I think he's already sent out Mrs. Collins to get the fish for tonight's dinner."  
  
"Ugh, fish," Lucy groaned. "Well it's cooling down a bit, I can walk."  
  
"Are you quite certain?" Cordelia asked, her voice suddenly filled with concern. "We could telephone the Horners, or I could send Alfred or one of the stable boys to go to the boy's house..."  
  
"I'll be quite all right! At least I'll be able to walk through the park a little this evening," said Lucy firmly, placing her bonnet on her head and reaching for her parasol.  
  
"Well, all right," said Cordelia uncertainly, and with a kiss on the cheek Lucy returned to the sultry heat of the New York City summer afternoon.  
  
  
  



	2. Where the Boys Are...

Disclaimer: Again, I don't own Kid Blink (DAMMIT!) or any of the newsies. And for the reviewer who pointed out that Kid Blink is not underappreciated, I only said that because it seems that almost every fanfic on this website is about Spot and I've only found 2 about my cycloptic hero. So there.  
  
  
Chapter 2: Where the Boys Are...  
  
  
After his encounter with the pretty, rich girl, Kid Blink easily sold the last of his papers and made his way to Tibby's where he knew he'd eventually meet up with some of the other newsies. Sure enough, when he arrived, Race, Mush, and Boots were already there, enjoying some cold (and on the house) rootbeers.  
  
"Hey Kid," called Mush, patting his best friend on the back as Kid took his seat next to the dark curly-haired boy. "Any luck today?"  
  
"Yeah, I sold 'em all and some rich goil gave me a nickel for just one pape!" The anticipated catcalls and whistles ensued, to which Kid laughed good naturedly and humored his friends by giving them a wicked grin.  
  
"You gonna give her anythin' in return Blink?" cracked Race as Mush snorted into his rootbeer. The boys knew well of Kid Blink's never-ceasing romantic exploits, few of which were actually successful, but most of which resulted in hilarious stories that all of the newsies loved to recount at poker games.  
  
"Nah, not this goil," Kid said heartily. Boots rolled his eyes. "You shoulda seen 'er! She was a real piece o' woik. Lives in one o' dose huge houses over by da' park. Her faddah looked like he was gonna shoot me jus' for sellin' her a pape!"  
  
"Pretty?" asked Mush, his eyes flashing. Mush was the only other boy Kid knew who liked girls as much as he did.  
  
Kid shrugged. "I hardly noticed. It was too damn hot." This brought murmurs of agreement from the other three newsies, and all four of them quieted down to enjoy the rest of their drinks. A moment later, the door chime rang as five more newsies burst in, talking animatedly about the day's events and in anticipation of a cold drink. Among the newcomers was Jack Kelly. He was a year older than Kid and towered over most of the boys who lived in the lodging house. And while Kid and Mush were girl-crazy and occasionally got lucky, Jack was the only one among the bunch who was actually known to have a great deal of success with women. Perhaps this was why he had become the unofficial leader of the Manhattan newsies.  
  
"Hey Cowboy!" called Racetrack gleefully as Jack joined them at the bar. "Guess who met a rich goil today?" Even from outside in the street, the restaurant rang with the laughter of the newsboys from within.  
  
**********************************************  
  
Lucy didn't want to go to the Horner's house. She despised Robbie's uptight, ultra-conservative parents, his shrew of a sister, and his creepy older brother. If it weren't for the respectability of his family (the ultimate of old money) and their continuing support of Lucy's father's bid for District Attorney of New York City, Lucy was sure her family would have nothing to do with the Horners. But, unfortunately, as she had discovered since moving to the United States, she had very little choice in whose company she frequented.  
  
Life had been so much simpler when she was still living in England with her mother. Her parents had never bothered to divorce, never having had a reason to despite the fact that they couldn't even bare to live on the same continent as each other. Lucy stayed with her mother in Derbyshire while Mr. Morningside chose to reside in New York and build up a career as an attorney. Lucy had barely known her father when, three years before, upon her mother's untimely death, she came to the United States for the first time. Back in England, Mrs. Morningside had given her daughter more liberty than most girl's her age, and Lucy didn't think she would ever want to leave her comfortable country life. But tuberculosis had changed everything. Living in the dirty, crowded streets of New York City was as far from the gentle, lush English countryside as Lucy could imagine.  
  
While her thoughts were engaged by memories of her dead mother and longing of her old life, Lucy suddenly found herself in front of the Horner's apartment, which lay across the park from her house. Taking a deep breath and swallowing her pride, she knocked on the door and rehearsed her excuse.  
  
**************************************  
  
After an hour or so of fooling around with his friends, Kid Blink was finally able to quietly excuse himself and sneak away without attracting too much attention. He knew what he was doing wasn't illegal or anything--far from it--but he didn't know what the other newsies would think if they found out where Kid liked to go after work every day. Race, as everyone knew, went to the Sheepshead races every day, Jack liked to see Medda Larkson perform her vaudeville act at Irving Hall, Mush and Skittery often tried to cajole Kid into sneaking into dance halls to meet girls, and the younger kids enjoyed attempting to sneak into the dime museums and Kid Blink liked to go to...the library?  
  
One of the few memories Blink retained of his childhood consisted of lying on the floor of his mother's one room apartment with a kerosene lamp, his nose pressed against a thick volume filled with stories of pirates and adventure, war and intrigue, knights in shining armor and romance (although at the time the romance hadn't excited him nearly as much as did the battle scenes). His family had had barely enough to get by on, but Kid couldn't have cared less as long as he had books with which to pass the time. And it worked for years, until he was nine years old...  
  
Kid shook his head, as if to banish the memory from his mind. He never thought about it anymore, the day his family had been torn apart. It was too painful. No, better to keep his mind filled with happy thoughts of his life now with his friends, his life as a newsie.  
  
Ten minutes later Kid was walking up the steps of the New York Public Library, smoothing his hair and brushing off his clothes. He knew that as long as all he did was sit quietly and read, the librarians wouldn't kick him out, but he was always aware of their penetrating glares when they caught sight of his dirty appearance. The reproachment stopped at glances, but it hurt Kid Blink to know that fellow booklovers would judge him solely based on his appearance. He was also fairly sure that the hoity-toity librarians would probably never give him a library card--he had never even asked--so he did all his reading inside the library. Today, he was nearing the end of what he was positive would be his favorite book of all time, _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_. Huck's adventures and close shaves with danger sparked Blink's imagination and made him long to travel the Mississippi river, although he didn't see how it could be all that different from the Hudson. After all, a river was a river, right?  
  
After removing his hat and straightening his hair underneath the ties of his eyepatch, Kid entered the library and made his way to the fiction section, to the spot where he always knew where Huck Finn was. He bent down and made to grab for it...and frowned.  
  
He looked up. Yes, this was the fiction section. It hadn't been moved. "T" for Twain, this was exactly where the book should be. This was where it was yesterday! Frustrated, Kid Blink strode to where a dusty looking librarian was straightening a shelf of equally dusty books.  
  
"Why ain't 'Huck Finn' on da shelf where it always is?" he asked. "Did it get moved?" The librarian looked at him like he had just told her he was Teddy Roosevelt.  
  
"If it's not on the shelf," she said slowly in a patronizing voice, "it must have been checked out."  
  
Kid stared. "Checked out? But...I was readin' it!" he protested.  
  
"Well then maybe you should get a library card," the librarian said stuffily before she walked off in the other direction. It took all of Kid's calm not to cry out in frustration. He didn't even know what you needed to get a library card! He was sure you needed an address, some form of identification... No, the library would never give him a card. He would just have to wait until the book came back.  
  
Kid was considerably less cheerful upon leaving the library than he had been when he had arrived. He considered looking for a new book to begin, but he didn't want to start another one when he was so close to finishing _Huck Finn_. He decided, instead, to take a walk in the park. Central Park at dusk was one of his favorite places to walk, and he knew it might lift his spirits. Though the air was still humid and made his whole body beg for a bath, it wasn't nearly as swelteringly hot as it had been hours earlier. Blink made his way through the park, past bums, upperclass looking couples, and businessmen on their way home from work, to the lake, and he was just about skip a stone across the calm water's surface when he heard a strangely familiar voice.  
  
"Oh you poor thing, don't you have any shoes?" he heard it say gently, and he swung his head around to find the speaker. He saw, to his surprise, a familiar blue dress, and the girl wearing it could only be the girl he had seen earlier. She was speaking to a small child whom Kid recognized occasionally sold newspapers, although usually he just begged for food on the streets. The boy's feet were filthy and raw, and he didn't answer, but just stared up at the girl in wonder.  
  
"Here you are, sweetie, please take this money and buy yourself a pair of shoes." She handed the boy a crisp bill, and Kid couldn't see the number on it, but he did see the boy's eyes widen in delight. Kid hadn't realized it before, but the girl had an English accent.  
  
"Dis is mo' den enough fo' shoes," the child said, as though he were afraid to be holding so much money in his filthy hands.  
  
"Then use the rest to get something to eat," she insisted, closing the boy's hand around the money. With a heart-breaking smile, the boy leapt to his feet and ran off.  
  
"I see you like helpin' people, doncha?"  
  
The girl started at Kid's voice and looked up. After a moment, a smile of recognition lit up her pretty features.   
  
"I try," she said shyly, as though embarrassed to have been found out. "I just couldn't bare the thought of that poor boy trying to make it through the winter without anything to cover his feet."  
  
"That's nice o' you," Kid said evenly, striding toward the girl, "but how da youse know he's gonna spend it on shoes?"  
  
Her smile faltered slightly. "Well, what else would he spend it on?"  
  
Kid chuckled at her naivete. "He might go straight ta the races and bet it on a horse, or maybe he'll go to Coney Island, or to a bar and buy some..."  
  
"But he's just a child!" she protested. Angry red splotches had appeared on her cheeks and Kid could tell that he had gone too far.  
  
"I'm not sayin' he will," he said quickly, "I'm just warnin' you ta be careful. I know that you like givin' money to po' kids. But not all of 'em is trustwoithy."  
  
"Are you?" she challenged him haughtily, hands on her hips.  
  
"Me?" Kid laughed, trying to lighten the mood. "I'm as trustwoithy as dey come! Kid   
Blink's my name, anyways."  
  
The girl blinked. "Kid...Blink? That's a name?"  
  
He laughed. "Yeah, you can prolly guess hows I got it too," he said, gesturing to the eyepatch. After a moment, this produced a smile out of his listener, and Kid was relieved.  
  
"Well my name is Lucy Morningside," she said, once again shy, "though nothing about my appearance can give you any hint to its origin."  
  
Five minutes later Lucy and Kid were walking through the park, though anyone watching them might have thought they were simply two strangers heading in the same direction. They hardly spoke, though Kid kept stealing glances in Lucy's direction, trying to catch another glimpse at her face. He couldn't believe that he hadn't noticed how pretty she was. He supposed, after some thought, that she had the sort of face that didn't immediately grab one's attention, and only after having had time to contemplate it for some time did one begin to appreciate its beauty. Her skin was a pretty peaches and cream complexion that is common in English girls. He didn't think that a fleck of dirt could ever have rested on her smooth face. Wide, deep blue eyes sparkled under a shade of thick lashes and a puckish, upturned nose made her look younger than he now supposed she was. She must have been at least his age. And though he now found her to be very attractive, he knew that the way she wore her strawberry blond hair, more red than gold, loose and hanging in soft waves down her back, was hardly fashionable. All in all, he found her to be the most intriguing specimen of the female sex he had ever encountered.  
  
Lucy, meanwhile, was undergoing a fierce battle of curiosity over conscience in her brain. Her upbringing and breeding screamed at her to tell the impertinent young man to leave her alone, though he was doing nothing to bother her besides walk beside her. Her personality and heart, however, urged her to talk to the strangely attractive blond boy, and it was this voice that eventually won out.  
  
"Do you often walk in the park in the evenings?" she asked hesitantly. She saw out of the corner of her eye a look of brief surprise on his face at being directly addressed. "I don't think I've seen you here before."  
  
"Nah, usually I'm in da...er, I got other plans," he said carefully, not yet ready to divulge his guilty secret to a complete stranger. "How about you? Don't seem like somethin' a goil like you should be doin' alone at this time o' night."  
  
"Usually I'm, uh, accompanied," Lucy said awkwardly. She blushed as Kid glanced at her slyly.  
  
"You gotta boyfriend?" he teased.  
  
"No! Er, well, sort of." Lucy looked away, afraid that she was talking too familiarly with Kid Blink. After all, she had only just met him, and he was only a newsie. Why should she be sharing intimate details of her life with him? Luckily, Kid didn't pursue the subject any further, and instead smiled smugly and walked silently a little further away from Lucy. She was pretty, he thought to himself, but definitely an upper-class snob, even if she does give a lot of charity. Finally, the pair reached the entrance of the park and began to move in their separate directions. Kid hesitated. Should he be a gentleman and offer to walk her home? Or would she just think he was being inappropriate? It was hard to know with rich dames. But, he thought, it was worth a try.  
  
"Will you be aright walkin' home by yourself?" he asked. "It's gettin' late..."  
  
"It's all right," she said quickly, though not rudely, almost as though she were afraid that if she didn't decline immediately she might accept his offer. "Don't worry about me, it's not too far and I need to hurry."  
  
"Don't wanna be late fa' dinner?" Kid said, feeling stupid but gallant.  
  
"Yes, well, Father's giving a dinner party and..." Lucy faltered, feeling bad about flaunting her wealth in front of a streetkid. But if Kid felt any resentment to her, he didn't show it.  
  
"Sounds like loads o' fun," Kid laughed, winking.  
  
"It will be frightfully boring, but I can't miss it," she muttered, straightening her gloves.  
  
"You should come hang wid the boys," Kid blurted out before he could stop himself. "The newsies, I mean," he said quicky at her confused look. "They's a lot mo' fun than some fancy party."  
  
"Thanks, but I can't," Lucy said in a small voice, not even sure if Kid Blink had been joking. She turned to leave, stopped, and turned her head around to look back at him. "I walk in the park nearly every day at this time," she said quickly, and before she could say anything else, she picked up her skirt and fled in the opposite direction.  
  
Kid stood dumbstruck. What had just happened? Had he really just walked through Central Park with the richest girl who had ever bought a paper from him? Had he really had the nerve to ask her to come back to the Lodging House with him? And had she really just done what he thought she had done?  
  
No, she couldn't have. A girl like that would never ask a street rat like him to go for a walk in the park. He was out of his mind. She was probably just trying to be polite, or maybe he had gone too far when he mentioned the other newsies and she had panicked. Whatever it was, it did no good to linger on it. He would probably never run into her again; what were the odds of meeting up with the same girl a third time? Kid pushed the idea, as well as the vision of her sparkling blue eyes, out of his mind, stuffed his hands in his pockets and began to make his way back to the Lodging House.  
  



	3. As Time Goes By

**Chapter Three: As Time Goes By...**  
  
  
Lucy hadn't been lying when she told Kid that the dinner party would be boring--it was just that. Dull beyond comprehension. The mayor of New York City had to be the most pompous, mind-numbingly dull windbag Lucy had ever been forced to listen to talk about the joys of cricket. Lucy almost wished she had gone on her walk with Robbie Horner, who at least had the sense to talk about relatively interesting topics. The councilmembers were all ancient, crusty old men with wives who down their noses at the Morningside's plain white china and weatherbeaten place mats as if something particularly foul smelling had just entered the room. Mr. Morningside cared little for material objects such as these, and Lucy knew that though her house was very fine and well-furnished, it didn't compare with those of their guests.  
  
As she sat glued to her seat, forced to listen to an argument between Councilmembers Roberts and Sullivan about the best type of bait for trout fishing, Lucy couldn't help her mind wandering to the boy she had met in the park--Kid Blink. The name floated around in her head, interrupting all her thoughts. What is his real name? she wondered. What does his face look like underneath his eyepatch? Is he really missing an eye, or is the patch just for show? Why does he work as a newsie? Does he have parents? Is he really as "trustwoithy" as he claims to be?  
  
Most unsettling to Lucy, however, was the single overwhelming question that pounded in her ears even above the rest. Why was she still, three hours later, thinking about Kid Blink? Why did she care about his past and his trustworthiness? And why, she mentally kicked herself, had she made that stupid comment about walking in the park? Had she actually invited him to meet her in the park? And had he actually suggested that she go with him to meet his friends? Of course not, she thought angrily. He was only being polite, offering to walk her home and mentioning, in passing, his own plans. She couldn't believe she had taken what he had said so seriously! With a slight shake of her head, Lucy resolved to think no more of Kid Blink, and attempted to return her attention to the conversation, or rather debate, that was playing out between Councilmembers Thomas and Mr. Anderson, a lawyer friend of her father's.  
  
"I tell you!" Thomas accentuated his declaration by pounding his fist on the table, "ordinary worms are just not suitable bait for trout fishing..."  
  
Oh Lord, Lucy groaned inwardly. It was going to be a long night.  
  
********************  
  
The next couple of days couldn't have gone any slower than if Blink had been riding on the back of a three-legged tortoise. The heat wave continued, and the newsies found that even the threat of losing their wages couldn't entice them to leave the comfort of Tibby's restaurant to venture back into the streets. Kid, however, was determined to earn enough money to buy his own copy of _Huckleberry Finn, _since it looked like he wouldn't be seeing it in the library for some time. Therefore he was out every day hawking his papes, resisting the temptation to go with his friends to Coney Island and spend his extra pennies on sodapops, and trying his hardest to push the image of Lucy Morningside's penetrating blue eyes out of his mind.  
  
Blink didn't return to the park that next evening or any evening following that. He didn't know what Lucy had meant when she disclosed that she liked to walk in Central Park during the evenings, but he knew that no matter how much he longed to see her again, he had to resist the temptation. Lucy Morningside, he reminded himself, was a rich girl with wealthy habits and a very naive perception of the world. Kid's own situation couldn't have been more different, and the possibility of the two becoming friends was just impossible. Even if they both wanted it to work, which, Blink admitted, was unlikely. All in all, the whole situation was completely ridiculous, and the only thing to do was to work harder and not think of Lucy and her gentle laugh, timid smile, and cryptic last words.  
  
********************  
  
Nearly two weeks had passed since the day Kid Blink met Lucy Morningside, and the worsening summer heat was not at all helped by bad headlines, making selling papers even more of a challenge.  
  
"'Trolley workers threaten strike as negotiations go sour'," read Racetrack incredulously as he began to scan the newspaper for a good story. Kid paid for his 50 papes and joined Race on the steps. "Dey call dat a headline? Maybe we should go kidnap da mayor's daughter or somethin', den at least we'd get a decent headline da next day."  
  
"I don't think you'd sell many papes in prison," Mush said, sitting himself down beside his friends. Mush looked through the paper absently, and didn't even notice when he flipped past an article entitled, "Tornado threatens home of oracular cow." Kid noticed the dreamy expression on the younger boy's face. He snapped his fingers in front of Mush's blank gaze, causing Mush to blink and look up.  
  
"Huh?" he said, looking about him. Kid laughed.  
  
"What's up wid you?" asked Kid. "You been actin' funny lately, you know dat?"  
  
"Funny?" asked Mush nervously. Suddenly he seemed to find his shoes very interesting.  
  
"Yeah, you been all starry-eyed, off in la-la land or somethin'," Blink pressed.  
  
"An' how is dat diff'rent from how Mush always acts?" cracked Skittery drily. The others all laughed.  
  
"So who's the goil, Mush?" Race asked slyly. Mush nearly fell off the step on which he was sitting. Kid and Skittery burst out laughing, along with the small crowd that had gathered, but Race kept his intent gaze on Mush, who had turned a bright shade of red.  
  
"What goil?" Mush tried his best at wide-eyed innocence, but failed, and the crowd egged him on even more. After several minutes of prodding and cajoling from the newsies, Weasel finally yelled at the boys to move out of the way, and with Jack in the lead, they made their way into Manhattan, Mush's "goil" apparently forgotten.  
  
As the pack of newsies began to separate in different directions, Mush, Kid, and Race found themselves, as always, walking together in the direction of the harbor before they would inevitably split up. Kid was busy calling out, "Cow predicts end of the woild in tornado!" when Race stepped up close to Mush and whispered to him.  
  
"Okay, now ev'ryone's gone, you can tell me. Who's da goil?"  
  
"Honest, there's no goil!" insisted Mush as he handed a paper to a man in a suit. "Not really."  
  
"Whaddaya mean, not really?"  
  
"Well," Mush took a deep breath and continued, "I was jus' thinkin' about this goil I sold a pape to the otha' day. That's all. I didn't talk 'er or nuthin'."  
  
"Since when 'ave you been embarrassed to talk about goils, Mush?" asked Race.  
  
"I dunno," Mush responded, kicking at a pebble with his worn shoes. "I just didn't wanna say nothin' about it in front o' the others. This goil was high class, and even if I did see 'er again, well, I ain't gotta chance with someone like that."  
  
Race chucked his younger friend on the shoulder affectionately and smiled. "You dunno dat, kid," he said. "You may be surprised what a guy like you can do." Mush looked curiously at Race, surprised at the other boy's sudden outburst of wisdom. Race just smiled mysteriously and turned to catch up to Kid Blink, who had gotten pretty far ahead of the others. Mush sighed and picked up the pace, promising to himself that he would push the memory of the pretty, red-haired girl out of his mind once and for all. Because no matter what Racetrack said, a beautiful rich girl like her would never, ever go for a street rat like Mush.  
  
"What's up wid Mush?" asked Kid once Race had caught up with him.  
  
"Ah, he's just dreamin' about some rich goil he met the otha' day." An image flashed through Kid Blink's mind, bright blue eyes shaded by thick black lashes and a delicate, up-turned nose.  
  
"Crazy kid," Blink laughed, a little too heartily. The three boys soon after split up, agreeing to meet later on at Tibby's for a drink. But even as the hours wore on, Kid was still not able to push the memory of Lucy's face out of his mind.  
  
  



	4. Everything You Want...

ATTENTION! Due to a stroke of genius I had while fanfiction.net was down, I've completely changed the end of this chapter. Now the plot will make a lot more sense than how it originally would have been.**  
  
  
Chapter 4: Everything You Want...**  
  
"Anudda' day, anudda' lame headline," muttered Kid Blink, glancing up at the chalk headline billboard on the side of World building. It was getting into the second week of the trolley strike, and the public was getting tired of the same old headline, "Strike continues as trolley workers demand wage increase." Kid knew that he would have a hard time selling today if he didn't come up with a particularly catchy headline.  
  
"Lookit this," said Race, who had just bought his fifty papers. "'Brooklyn cats attack dog walkers'. Whaddaya expect, it's Brooklyn, ain't it?"  
  
The boys all bought their papers and, as always, started toward the harbor. But after only a minute of walking and shouting, "Mutant cats mutilate innocent civilians and their dogs," Kid Blink suddenly stopped.  
  
"I think I'm gonna sell in da park today," he said when Race and Mush turned to see what had happened. "I did good dere yesterday, I think da eye-patch goes ovah well dere." Race and Mush shrugged and agreed to meet Kid at Tibby's later that evening, and then they continued on their way.  
  
Kid turned and walked in the opposite direction, unsure of why he did what he had just done. In truth, he hadn't sold papers in the park in weeks, hadn't even been by there since he had met Lucy Morningside there three weeks before. He had avoided the place where he and Lucy had met for the second time, especially during the evenings. He didn't know why. He had never cared one way or another about Central Park before, he had always just taken for granted the fact that it was a pretty good place to sell papers. But now, he got an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach every time he passed it, and the once friendly looking trees now seemed threatening, almost as if they were daring him to enter again.  
  
But today, Kid bravely sauntered past the glowering trees and made his way into the center of the park, making up headlines and smiling at passersby. Now he felt silly about the anxiety he had felt for the past few weeks. There was nothing wrong with the park! No bloodthirsty trees waiting to pounce, no muggers or thugs hiding in dark places. Only the memory of Lucy; Lucy giving money to the shoeless orphan, Lucy haughtily questioning Kid's trustworthiness and looking away shyly as Kid began to work with her out of the park, Lucy clumsily inviting Kid to walk with her in the park.  
  
He now knew without a doubt that that was the only possible thing she could have meant by her strange comment. She had invited him to see her again, and he, being the idiot that he was, had let the opportunity slip through his fingers. Oh well, he thought, she was way too upper-class for him anyway. A girl like that would never go for street trash like Kid Blink. And that, Kid thought to himself, is okay, because who needs hoity-toity rich girls anyway?  
  
Kid spent the next several hours consoling himself in this manner, flashing his winning smile to every pretty girl he passed and coming up with headlines even to rival Jack's and Race's. By around four in the afternoon he had sold all of his papers, and, with a start, he realized that he now probably had enough money to buy the book for which he had been saving. Forgetting his promise to meet the others at Tibby's, Kid raced over to Solomona's book shop, where he immediately found a copy of Mark Twain's _Huckleberry Finn_ (he had already scouted out the store and memorized where on the shelf the book was kept). A half an hour later, he was walking briskly back to the park, book in hand, eager to find a bench and do some long awaited reading.  
  
********************  
  
"...and when I'm finished with law school, I shall join Father's firm and buy a house upstate. After, of course, I have found a wife. Father says that a settled man must have a wife to ensure stability, and, obviously, the continuation of the family line."  
  
Lucy's head was about to burst with boredom. She thought that if she had to hear Robbie Horner's ramblings about his future one more time, she would have to kill them both. Now, however, the lecture was getting even worse because of Robbie's constant and unnerving comments about finding a "nice little wife." She stared miserably at the ducks swimming lazily in the lake, wishing she were anywhere but in the middle of Central Park with Robbie.  
  
"I shall have to find a wife from an upper-class family, someone brought up well with the same tastes and values as mine and my family's," Robbie continued pompously, and was about to continue when Lucy finally interjected.  
  
"Well, Robbie," she said smoothly, "I'm sure you shall have no problem finding someone like that. Manhattan is full of wealthy aristocrats as dull--er, well-bred as you are." Robbie didn't appear to have heard her slip-up, and he preened obnoxiously. In the past few weeks, Robbie had changed from being quietly annoying and clinging to being downright obnoxious. The change, Lucy had to imagine, must have resulted from Robbie's recent acceptance to Harvard law school, his father's alma mater. And ever since, Lucy's walks in the park with Robbie had changed from being boring but fairly enjoyable to downright painful. Today was particularly bad for some reason.   
  
"Well, the city may have many people who call themselves upper-class," Robbie went on, his nose so high in the air that he nearly trod over a little boy who had run in front of him, "but so many of these so-called aristocrats are just new money or foreigners trying to pull themselves off as high class." His nose crinkled unattractively, as though he had something particularly foul smelling underneath it. He then pulled out a pocket watch, consulted it, and said in a bored, superior tone, "Oh dear, I should be getting home. Father is meeting with Mr. Pulitzer today, and you know how important it is that I be there. I should be getting you home."  
  
"Oh don't worry about me," Lucy said quickly, sidestepping Robbie's outstretched arm. "I think I shall stay in the park for a bit longer. You know how I love to watch the sunset."  
  
"Are you sure?" Robbie looked put-out, but Lucy insisted, and soon she was blissfully Robbie-free and circling the lake lazily, watching small children feeding the ducks and listening to the sound of the newbies call out headlines. An hour or so had passed, and she was just thinking about making her way back home when a vaguely familiar voice interrupted her thoughts by saying, "Buy me last pape, miss?"  
  
********************  
  
Mush and Race were growing restless. They had been waiting at Tibby's for Kid Blink for over an hour. Nearly all of the other newsies had shown up by this time, and the restaurant was crammed with noisy teenage boys sneaking beers, dancing on the table tops, and hanging on the ceiling fan, much to the chagrin of the harried restaurant owner. But one face was still missing, and Kid Blink's selling partners began to worry.  
  
"It ain't like him to bail like dis!" Mush cried anxiously, peering expectantly toward the door.  
  
"Aw kid, he prob'ly picked up some goil an' fahgot about us," Race said blandly.  
  
"Kid wouldn't do that!" Mush was quick to defend his friend, for though he did see the possibility of Race's statement, Mush was always the sort to think the best of everyone, and the idea betrayal was completely foreign to him. "I'm gonna look for 'im," he said suddenly. The others at the table looked at him in exasperation. "He said he'd be in da park! He's prob'ly still deah."  
  
Race rolled his eyes as the younger boy grabbed his single unsold paper and sprinted from the restaurant as though he were being chased by winged harpies. "Po' kid," he said, shaking his head. "Wouldn't see da truth if it danced in front o' him naked and on fiah."  
  
********************  
  
Mush made his way resolutely toward Central Park, keeping an eye out for his eye-patch wearing friend. Always optimistic, Mush refused to believe that Kid Blink would have blown off his friends for a girl, despite what the more realistic Race thought. He hoped that Kid hadn't had a bad run-in with the Delancey brothers, who were always looking for a fight with a newsie on his own.  
  
Mush reached the park in record time and began to wander in the direction of the lake, which he knew to be Kid's favorite spot. He saw no sign of his friend, however, just couples strolling slowly in order to admire the sunset, and children teasing the ducks. Suddenly, he saw a flash of red hair as a girl in a yellow dress hurried past him, her gloved hands clutching a white parasol that hid her face. His heart raced, remembering the girl he had seen several weeks before, the sweet-faced redhead with the startlingly blue eyes. Of course, he knew it most likely wasn't the same girl, but that didn't stop him from hurrying up behind her and saying in his friendliest voice:  
  
"Buy me last pape, miss?"  
  
********************  
  
Ten minutes after Mush had left Tibby's, Kid Blink burst through the door, his hair sticking out at odd angles under his eye-patch string, and through heaving deep breaths, managed to say, "Sorry fellas, (gasp) lost track (gasp) o' time." Not able to tear himself away from his book until he had finished, Blink had suddenly realized how late it was and took off at full speed toward Tibby's, knowing that the others would be wondering where he was.  
  
"No problem, Kid," said Race absently, who was now quite occupied in a game of cards. Blink took a seat next to him, and sat for a moment wondering why something seemed missing.  
  
"Hey guys, wheah's Mush?"  
  
"Oh, he went lookin' fo' ya," said Jake, who was studying his own hand intently.  
  
"Dammit!" muttered Kid guiltily. Oh well, he thought, Mush would give up soon and return to Tibby's, and the kid was so easygoing that he probably wouldn't be angry. Kid smiled at the thought of his best friend loyally combing Central Park in search of him, but soon was distracted from his thoughts in favor of watching Race pull off a particularly spectacular bit of bluffing, leaving Jake muttering angrily and the rest of the boys slapping Race exuberantly on the back. No big deal, Kid thought, Mush would be back, no harm done.  
  
********************  
  
Lucy whirled around to face the owner of the voice, and her heart fell slightly to see that it was not Kid Blink. But it didn't fall far, as the newsie now facing her proved to be in possession of the sweetest smile she had ever seen, as well as deep brown eyes that looked like liquid pools of chocolate. She thought that she must have bought a paper from this boy before, as he looked vaguely familiar. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed how good-looking he was before.  
  
"Is it a good headline?" she asked teasingly, surprising herself with her ease in talking to a stranger.  
  
"Yeah, if ya ain't hoid enough about da trolley strike for da last two weeks," he responded with another heartbreakingly cute smile.  
  
"Oh, well I'm terribly fascinated with the trolley strike," Lucy gushed in an exaggerated voice, handing Mush a coin absently, not caring what it's value was. He didn't seem to care either. "I just can't get enough of it."  
  
"Good," the newsie said, "cuz it looks like dat's gonna be all dat's in da papes for a long time. 'Cept if ya wanna read about some mutant cats in Brooklyn dat attack dogs."  
  
Lucy laughed, unable to tear her eyes away from the newsie's. All disappointment at his not being Kid Blink had vanished, and she introduced herself shyly to the newsie, who in turn told her his own name.  
  
"Mush?" she said quizzically. "Why do they call you Mush?"  
  
He looked a little embarrassed, but responded, "Oh, dey say my skin looks like da color o' porridge, and 'Porridge' ain't much of a name, so dey started callin' me Mush."  
  
Lucy giggled. "That's a funny way to get a name, but it suits you."  
  
Meanwhile, Mush was barely even conscious of what he was saying. He was too busy basking in happiness at the luck of seeing the beautiful girl again. Lucy. Lucy Lucy Lucy. He was vaguely aware that what he was saying must about sounded pretty stupid, talking about mutant cats and the origin of his nickname, but he was lost in Lucy's blue eyes. He had never seen that color blue before, couldn't even begin to describe it.  
  
"You've got really pretty eyes," he said shyly as they sat down on opposite sides of a park bench. She blushed and looked away. "No really," he insisted, "I ain't nevah seen eyes dat color before."  
  
"My mother always said they were the color of sapphires," Lucy said quietly, daring to look back at Mush.  
  
"Sapphires? Ain't dat a kind o' stone?"  
  
"Yes," Lucy said eagerly, "it was my mother's favorite gem, she had so many of them! When she died, I took some of them. In fact I'm wearing one of them now." She pulled a thin gold chain out from under the collar of her dress and showed the small heart-shaped sapphire to Mush. It was the same color as her eyes, and as Mush gazed at it, he could almost see her staring back at him through the gleaming stone.  
  
"Beautiful," he murmured. He glanced back up at her face, which was tilted towards his. For a moment both held the gaze until Lucy hurriedly looked away. Both searched for something to say to break the awkward silence.  
  
"Oh look at the sunset!" Mush finally said. Obviously it was right thing to say.  
  
"Don't you love watching the sun set?" Lucy asked brightly, watching the horizon turn from a bright orange to dusky pink. "I always have. They look so different here than how they did in England."  
  
"Y'know what I like even bettah den sunsets," Mush said, "is sunrises. Dey's so beautiful, and most people don'even see 'em cuz dey's too busy sleepin'." Lucy giggled, and Mush joined in. They sat in silence watching the sunset for several minutes until dusk had settled in and people began to leave the park.  
  
"It's late," Lucy said suddenly, as though she hadn't even noticed that time had passed.  
  
"Yeah, I'd bettah be gettin' back," Mush said, standing up. Almost unconsciously, Lucy held out her hand and Mush took it as she stood. Again a look passed between them.  
  
"Should I walk ya home?" he asked after a slight hesitation.  
  
"Um, yes, thank you, that would be nice," Lucy replied. Mush tried muffle his huge sigh of relief, but Lucy caught it and smiled. She didn't know why she had accepted his offer, but somehow she just couldn't say no. For some reason, an image flashed through her mind, the memory of a similar situation involving a boy with an eye-patch, the boy she had spent the last few weeks daydreaming about. She tried to push the image out of her mind, but it remained stubbornly. Even with the sweet smile she was now receiving from the irresistably cute boy by her side, she couldn't shake the memory of Kid Blink from her mind.  
  
They talked the entire way back to her house. Lucy found herself telling Mush all about her childhood in England, the family manor in the country, winters in London, her mother. Mush listened in rapt attention, taking in every detail of the way her eyes lit up when she talked about somehow that particularly excited her, and the way her lips moved when she spoke. He felt that if anyone had asked him any questions about anything that Lucy had told him about the geography of Derbyshire County, he would be able to repeat it back word for word. He, on the other hand, volunteered very little about himself, though he asked plenty of questions about herself.  
  
Upon reaching her street, Mush looked up in wonder at the fine, no doubt horrendously expensive mansions, and it occurred to him just how different the world he lived in was from Lucy's world. She came from a life in which she had spent her summers on a vast manor in the English countryside, riding horses and attending parties, winters spent in the most posh section of London, attending even more parties and shopping for fine clothes. She had never worked a day in her life. She probably bathed every day in a porcelain tub, had servants to dress her, and patronized the opera and had a private carriage. Mush felt that he now knew everything about Lucy Morningside, and that he would never be able to understand any of it. But God, he wished he could.  
  
Lucy must have sensed what Mush was feeling, because she bit her lip in embarrassment as he surveyed her house with a dark look. "My father is a lawyer," she said, as though attempting to excuse her wealth. Mush said nothing. "Well, thank you for walking me home."  
  
"No problem," Mush said, a smile returning to his face. "Wouldn't want nothing to happen to ya. Da streets can be dangerous at night."  
  
"Yes, I suppose they can." Another awkward silence. "Good night then."  
  
"Yeah, g'night," Mush murmured as Lucy started towards the front door. "Lucy," he called suddenly, unable to stop himself, and causing her to turn her head. "I wanna see ya again."  
  
There was a moment of hesitation in which Mush regretted having opened his mouth. But a moment later, Lucy's smile caused all of Mush's insides to melt into something that must have ressembled his namesake.  
  
"Of course you will," she said softly.  
  
"Tomorrow?" he said impulsively, hopefully, taking a step forward. Again Lucy hesitated.  
  
"All right," she said, a shy smile playing upon her red lips. "I'll be waiting by the lake at four o'clock." Mush was too thrilled to say anything, but with a trembling head gently took her gloved hand and kissed it gently. Blushing profusely, Lucy turn and hurried up the steps and disappeared into the house. It wasn't until she was out of sight that Mush remembered why he had gone to the park in the first place.  
  
"Dammit!" he cried, hitting himself on the forehead. Oh well, he thought, and with a leap of joy and one last longing glance toward Lucy's house, he turned around and started back toward the Lodging House, trying to think how he was going to explain his long absence to the others, and all the while the image Lucy's sapphire blue eyes burning before his own eyes.  
  
  
  
Okay now, you can say it...CHEESE! I know, this was the cheesiest thing since Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, but oh well. I'll try to lay off the cheese in upcoming chapter. A big thank you to my signed reviewers: B-Rock, Saibie, Dreamsock, Liddle Scarlett O'Flaherty, Princess MacEaver, Blink's Chick, and Kora :) Keep reading and help keep this silly smile plastered on my face (yes Kora, you did make me smile)  
  



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